English Explanatory Dictionary

mound

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An artificial hill or elevation of earth; a raised bank; an embankment thrown up for defense
  2. A natural elevation appearing as if thrown up artificially; a regular and isolated hill, hillock, or knoll.
  3. Elevated area of dirt upon which the pitcher stands to pitch.
  4. A ball or globe forming part of the regalia of an emperor or other sovereign. It is encircled with bands, enriched with precious stones, and surmounted with a cross.
  5. The mons veneris.
  6. A hand.
  7. A protection; restraint; curb.
  8. A helmet.
  9. Might; size.
  10. A large amount of something.
verb
  1. To fortify with a mound; add a barrier, rampart, etc. to.
  2. To force or pile into a mound or mounds.
  3. To form a mound.
name
  1. A number of places in the United States:
  2. A township in Effingham County, Illinois.
  3. A township in McDonough County, Illinois.
  4. A township in Warren County, Indiana.
  5. A township in McPherson County, Kansas.
  6. A village in Madison Parish, Louisiana.
  7. A city in Hennepin County, Minnesota.
  8. A township in Rock County, Minnesota.
  9. A township in Bates County, Missouri.
  10. A census-designated place in Coryell County, Texas.
  11. An unincorporated community in Kanawha County, West Virginia.

Pronunciation

/maʊnd/ En-au-mound.ogg En-uk-mound.ogg

Word forms

mound mounds mounding mounded

Etymology

From earlier meaning "hedge, fence", from Middle English mound, mund (“protection, boundary, raised earthen rampart”), from Old English mund (“hand, hand of protection, protector, guardianship”), from Proto-West Germanic *mundu, from Proto-Germanic *mundō (“hand”), *munduz (“protection, patron”), from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂-nt-éh₂ (“the beckoning one”), from *(s)meh₂- (“to beckon”). Cognate with Old Frisian mund (“guardianship”), Middle Dutch mond (“protection”), Old High German munt (“hand, protection”) German Mündel (“ward”), Vormund (“guardian”)), Icelandic and Old Norse mund (“hand”), and possibly Latin manus (“hand”), Ancient Greek μάρη (márē, “hand”). Not related to mount.

Synonyms

bulwark rampart earthen mound globus cruciger globe orb pile bank bank up heap up

Related words

Mound in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Derived words

Allegheny mound ant ant mound burial mound cathedral mound charge the mound charging the mound earthen mound fairy mound Flower Mound gravemound intermound love mound Mima mound mound ant mound bird moundbird mound builder mound-builder moundbuilding Mound City moundlet moundlike mound royal moundsman Moundsville moundy pitcher's mound Pleasant Mound pubic mound Richmond shaftment shaftmound termite mound Venus mound Wagon Mound Western Mound amound remound unmounded
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